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American Airlines will begin offering free, high-speed Wi-Fi on flights beginning this month. The airline made the announcement this week in a press release, explaining that the service will extend to around two million flights in 2026. However, not all fliers will receive the perk. The new service will be sponsored by wireless provider AT&T. Free high-speed Wi-Fi isnt just a perkits essential for todays travelers,” said Heather Garboden, chief customer officer at American Airlines, in the release. The rollout won’t kick off all at once, the announcement explained, but instead will happen in phases. This month, the service will be available only on “narrowbody and dual-class regional fleets,” the announcement says. But in just a few months, it will be made available on “nearly every American Airlines flight.” Who gets free, high-speed Wi-Fi? While the service will be available on almost all flights, it’s not for everyone. Eligible fliers have to be in the airline’s loyalty program, AAdvantage. If you aren’t a member but want to become one, you can sign up for a free account on the American Airlines website by providing a few personal details. Doing so will enable you to start earning miles, loyalty points, and free Wi-Fi on flights. How can AAdvantage members access free Wi-Fi on their flights? Accessing free Wi-Fi for AAdvantage members can be accomplished through the new and improved aainflight.com portal. Customers will be asked to log in using their AAdvantage membership number and password. Then, they can select Free Wi-Fi to start using the service. If you don’t have access to free Wi-Fi, it’s available on most American Airlines flights for $10. Who else offers free Wi-Fi? Not having to pay for Wi-Fi is certainly a desirable perk for fliers. However, American Airlines is not the first to offer it. Many U.S. airlines, like Delta, United, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Southwest, also ensure free Wi-Fi for loyalty members. However, JetBlue remains the only U.S. airline that offers free Wi-Fi to all travelers on most of its flightsa service it first rolled out in 2013. By January 2017, the service was extended to all flights. Wi-Fi for non-members costs around $8 to $10 on most carriers. But for longer, international flights, prices can go up to as much as $35. Frequent fliers, especially those who are traveling internationally often and want Wi-Fi access, can save money by purchasing monthly Wi-Fi passes on their preferred airline, rather than paying for the service on each and every flight.
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E-Commerce
Inside Girl Scouts headquarters in New York City and its two licensed bakeries, a team of trend forecasters, marketers, and food scientists spend years cooking up its next iconic cookie. Now, fans of the annual cookie sale are about to get a taste of what the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) team has been baking behind closed doors. The newest addition to the cookie lineup are Exploremores, a rocky road ice cream-inspired sandwich cookie with chocolate shortbread exteriors and chocolate, marshmallow, and toasted almond-flavored cream centers. For Girl Scout cookie enjoyers, a fresh cookie is always a welcome surprise. But, according to Wendy Lou, GSUSAs chief revenue officer and the mastermind behind the nonprofits cookie program, the cookie invention process is an intensive project that requires year-round dedication. Cookie Season may be once a year, but behind the scenes, the conversation about whats next is always happening, Lou says. [Photo: GSUSA] A brief history of the Girl Scout cookie Girl Scout cookies date back almost as far as the Girl Scouts themselves. Along the way, dozens of new flavors have been tested and ultimately retired into the archives of Girl Scout cookies past. According to GSUSAs official record, the first Girl Scout cookies are believed to have been baked in 1917, just five years after GSUSA was first founded. Initially, the cookies were a more run-of-the-mill bake sale fundraiserbut in the following decades, the concept went national, becoming a more organized affair including specially licensed bakeries and a streamlined list of flavors. By 1978, all cookie boxes (regardless of the baker) included uniform GSUSA branding, as well as officially named flavors. Since then, GSUSA has adopted a kind of two-pronged approach to its cookie sales. Each year, the company returns to a few classic cookie flavors that customers can reliably count on, historically including Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Samoas, and Trefoils. Alongside those tried-and-true offerings, the nonprofit generally also includes at least one new or limited-time cookie to add some intrigue to the mix. This second category has produced treats including VanChos, a pack of chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies that ran from 1974 to 1983; Echo, an Oreo-style cookie that lasted from just 1987 to 1989; and Savannah Smiles, a lemon-shaped wedge that was purchasable from 2011 to 2019. More recently, a cookie called the Raspberry Rally was available for just one season in 2023, resulting in a black market-esque resale bonanza. Its a clever strategy that keeps customers coming back each year, both for their favorite classic cookies and to try something differentbut in order to make the cut, a new Girl Scout cookie must first face an intensive development process. [Photo: GSUSA] Why it takes three years to design a cookie According to Lou, GSUSA doesnt adhere to a strict annual cadence for new cookie releases. Instead, its team regularly reviews cookie performance, food trends, and feedback from Girl Scouts to judge its current cookie portfolio and decide when its due for a fresh addition. Innovation is never off, she adds. Were always looking ahead. And cookie innovation is no quick affair. Lou says brainstorming for a new release typically begins around three years in advance, starting with early ideation based on consumer trends, followed by taste testing and naming. In recent years, this naming process has expanded beyond simply describing the cookie to capturing some part of the Girl Scout experience (see 2021s Adventurfuls, for example). Exploremores was chosen to reflect the spirit of curiosity, adventure, and exploration at the heart of Girl Scouting, Lou says. Every name is intentionally selected to connect back to our mission and the experiences girls gain through the program. Even after a cookie is approved, packaged, and coordinated with GSUSAs two bakeries, it still takes about 18 months to make it to an actual cookie stand. From there, its fate is annually reevaluated based on sales performance, local Girl Scout council needs, and operational considerations. In 2025, for example, GSUSA retired its Girl Scout Smores and Toast-Yay! flavors, which were introduced in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Now, they live in the storied archive of cookies past. For any new cookie, like the Exploremore, lifespan is ultimately determined by how customersand scoutsrespond to it. While some cookies are retired to make room for innovation, fans know that Girl Scout history is full of beloved cooiesand who knows what the future might hold? Lou says. What never changes is our commitment to delivering a lineup that excites customers and helps girls succeed.
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E-Commerce
Once the ball starts rolling in the Spanish league, the game is on for some 50 analysts who start looking for signs of online piracy.They scan websites, social media posts, IPTV platforms and streaming portals in search of illegal broadcasts of La Liga matches.The trained analysts identify the pirated content and take the steps needed to take them off air, including notifying Internet intermediaries like Cloudflare, the U.S.-based company whose content-delivery network is believed to manage nearly 20% of the Internet traffic worldwide.And that’s when the real fight begins for the Spanish league.La Liga, one of the most active European leagues fighting piracy and audiovisual fraud, accuses Cloudflare of ignoring illegal content and not doing enough to block it. It says Cloudflare plays a decisive role in the dissemination of online piracy that significantly hurts the soccer industry.Protecting its content is key for the league, which recently sold domestic audiovisual rights for more than 6 billion euros ($7 billion) through the 2031-32 season.Spanish league president Javier Tebas told The Associated Press in an email that Cloudflare is an organization “fully aware that a significant share of sports audiovisual piracy relies on its infrastructure and, despite this knowledge, it continues to protect and monetize that activity, as recognized by courts in multiple jurisdictions.”Tebas said that in Spain alone, more than 35% of La Liga’s content piracy continues to be distributed through Cloudflare’s infrastructure, despite thousands of formal notices and judicially backed enforcement measures implemented by Internet service providers.“This is not a legal, technical or ideological debate, but a case of a company prioritizing its commercial interests and financial gain over the law, the sustainability of the global sports industry, and the protection of its own customers, whom it uses as a digital shield for organized piracy networks,” Tebas said. Cloudflare speaks of censorship Cloudflare, which describes itself as a “long-standing champion of a free and open Internet,” denies wrongdoing and accuses the league of bullying its way into controlling what Spanish users see online during matches.Cloudflare told the AP that the league’s “indiscriminate blocking practices” have kept Spanish users from accessing tens of thousands of legitimate sites while the games are on.The company said La Liga thinks that its commercial interests can “trump the right of ordinary Spanish users to browse lawful sites” during matches.Cloudflare has encouraged Spanish users who notice lawful sites getting blocked because of La Liga to track those blocks and tell their lawmakers. Cloudflare highlights the need to fight “Internet censorship and the harm it causes.”“Cloudflare regularly works collaboratively with rightsholders to help address issues like illegal streaming,” it said. “La Liga, however, has shown no interest in this type of collaboration, believing instead they can bully their way to having complete control over what Spanish users see online during football matches by making unsupported claims and threats.”La Liga notes there is collaboration among several other intermediaries, including Google, Amazon and YouTube, but says Cloudflare has rejected similar collaboration efforts with the league. Legal actions The Spanish league has been successful in achieving court rulings against piracy in Spain, which also impacts Cloudflare, but it remains unable to get the company to block some of the illegal content internationally.Cloudflare has fought back in the courts, filing appeals to “demonstrate that La Liga’s overblocking practices are illegal.”“We are also engaging with talking to politicians and regulators, as well as civil society to find collaborative solutions to combating illegal sports streaming without impeding Internet access for millions of Spanish users,” it said.Cloudflare faces similar legal issues in Italy, France, Germany and Japan, among other countries. The Italian league said it has taken action against Cloudflare multiple times and will continue to do so. In Germany, the local league said it was in “regular and intensive communication with Cloudflare in order to combat the issue of digital piracy in the best possible way.” Seeking government support Cloudflare recently told the United States Trade Representative that the actions by foreign countries constitute digital trade barriers that contradict global norms and disproportionately impact U.S. technology providers, hindering market access in some countries.The Spanish league has also reached out to the European Commission and the USTR to complain about Cloudflare’s practices. It told the USTR that Cloudflare was the main facilitator for unauthorized broadcasts of La Liga and other pirated content worldwide.Cloudflare claims that its network is vital to the U.S.’ economic and security interests.“We urge the U.S. government to continue its resolute advocacy on behalf of American businesses to dismantle these structural barriers and ensure a global digital environment that rewards innovation and fair trade,” it said.The USTR did not answer an AP email requesting comment. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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